


The Technological Ties That Bind

by Settiai



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Mass Effect 1, One Shot, Spectre Requisitions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 12:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13903737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: Years later, Shepard liked to say that it was love at first sight.It wasn't, of course.  Not really.  Attraction, maybe.  Definitely more than a fair bit of curiosity.  But, love?  No, it hadn't been love.  Not at first.





	The Technological Ties That Bind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amarmeme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amarmeme/gifts).



Years later, Shepard liked to say that it was love at first sight.

It wasn't, of course. Not really. Attraction, maybe. Definitely more than a fair bit of curiosity. But, love? No, it hadn't been love. Not at first.

Tali was the first quarian Shepard had ever met in person. She'd seen holos and vids, of course, the general "who's who in the galaxy" crap that was fed to all of the kids who grew up in the fleet. But she'd never actually met a quarian face-to-face before.

Shepard had to admit, she wasn't entirely certain what she'd been expecting. But she knew that she hadn't expected the first quarian she ever met to be... well, so much like her. They'd barely known each other for more than a few hours when Tali had hesitantly asked a question about her omnitool, at which point the engineer in Shepard had jumped up and took notice. Her answer had led to another question from Tali, and then another, and another, to the point where they hadn't even realized how much time had passed while they talked until an alarm that Shepard had set on said omnitool had gone off.

And then, well, they'd all but sprinted towards the Citadel Tower to avoid being late meeting the Council.

It had seemed like the right thing to do, asking Tali to join her attempt to take down Saren. She'd provided them with the proof that they'd needed after all, almost getting herself killed in the process. It was the same logic that that had led Shepard to ask Garrus and Wrex to join her as well. Different talents, different skills, different ways of looking at things. Every little bit helped.

But as the two of them had stood in the elevator taking them to the top of the Tower, trying to catch their breaths as Garrus paced nervously behind them, Shepard had taken a moment to just look at Tali. It was hard to guess exactly what she looked like under her suit, the one-sided opaqueness of her face covering clearly intentional. But Shepard would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she was at least a little curious. She'd only known her for a few hours, and Shepard already felt like she'd known Tali forever.

That? She hadn't expected.

*

Sometimes it was easy to forget just how young Tali was.

Oh, Shepard didn't know how old she was in actual standard years. She didn't know enough about quarians to know what a specific age would mean in the grand scheme of things anyway. But it was painfully obvious sometimes that Tali was just barely an adult, especially when a bawdier comment or gesture clearly went flying over her head.

Then again, there were other times when it was much harder to remember that fact. When Tali pulled off a piece of engineering brilliance or shot a geth destroyer right in the face with a shotgun almost as big as her, it was easy to forget that she was barely more than a kid. And those were the times when Shepard had to be careful.

It had been easy to become friends with Tali, bonding over their shared love of tech. The chain of command was blurrier with the alien members of the _Normandy_ 's crew. Even if she didn't technically hold the rank, Shepard was in the position of captain – and that was somewhere she had never particularly wanted to be. She'd grown up on ships, after all. She knew how lonely it could be at the top.

Shepard hadn't been able to resist companionship, no matter how inappropriate it might have been in the grand scheme of things.

The problem was that she was quickly starting to realize that she was having clearly more-than-friendship feelings about Tali. And that was an issue for so many reasons.

"Anyone special waiting for you back in the Fleet?"

Shepard glanced up at Ashley's question. She'd been lost in thought, almost forgetting that she was sitting at the mess table with the rest of her ground crew.

Most of the others were clearly focused on Tali, who was shifting a bit uncomfortably at the attention. Kaidan's gaze had flickered towards Shepard, though, and there was a knowing look on his face that made her face grow warm. Not for the first time, Shepard was glad that her complexion was dark enough that most people couldn't pick up on it when she blushed.

"No, not really," Tali said after a too long pause. "That is... no. Probably not."

Shepard raised her eyebrows, purposefully forcing her expression to stay neutral. She ignored the flash of sympathy she saw flicker in Kaidan's eyes for a second. "That doesn't sound like a solid 'no' there, Tali."

"It sounds like a 'yes' to me," Wrex said, chuckling.

Tali shifted again, and Shepard could almost hear her blushing. Judging by the amused looks everyone else was wearing, even Liara who wasn't always the fastest to pick up on things like that, it was as obvious to them as it was her that she wasn't being quite truthful.

Shepard pointedly ignored the slight sinking feeling low in her stomach.

After a moment or two of watching Tali squirm, Ashley's face softened. "It's fine," she said. "It was just a question. You don't have to give us any details."

Tali sighed, bringing her hand up to rub the back of her neck. It was a very human gesture, one that she'd clearly picked up from someone on the _Normandy_. Possibly Adams. Shepard had seen him do that exact same thing more than once, usually when Chakwas was teasing him.

"There might have been someone I was... close to," Tali said, hesitating a bit. She was rather pointedly looking down at the table, ignoring everyone's faces. "Relationships before your Pilgrimage are rarely serious. It is rare that you will end up on the same ship as adults. It is better to keep things casual, to know that anything you have will be fleeting."

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Kaidan spoke for everyone when he said: "Well, that sucks."

Tali chuckled, but there wasn't much humor in it. "Yes," she said quietly. She finally looked up, her mask hiding whatever emotions she was wearing on her face. "Yes, it does."

It took everything Shepard had not to reach out and hug her.

*

"You're going to be fine," Shepard said quietly, not entirely certain if she was talking to Tali or herself. It was almost a mantra. "You're going to be fine."

Tali didn't reply, not that Shepard had expected her to say anything. She'd been unconscious for almost an hour already, and it was taking everything Shepard had not to panic.

Shepard ran her hand down Tali's side, checking again to make certain she'd closed the breach in her suit properly. It was probably the dozenth time she'd checked, but she couldn't help but do it just one more time.

She just hoped that Kaidan had been well outside the blast range when the explosives had taken out the entrance to the mine they were in. He'd been heading back to the Mako, and if he'd made it then they'd be fine. He'd have contacted the _Normandy_ for backup by now, and the others would be trying to find a way to get them the fuck out of this mine.

She was purposefully trying not to think about any other possibilities. Based on what she'd found inside the mine, it looked like it had been a drop site for smugglers at some point. It didn't look like it had been used in ages, so they'd most likely set off some old booby traps when they'd entered it.

Damn it, but if she'd gotten Tali killed because she'd missed some ancient traps, she was going to—

Shepard quickly cut off that line of thought. Kaidan was fine. Tali was going to be fine. She couldn't afford to think anything else, not just then.

"You're going to be fine," she said quietly. She leaned down and pressed a kiss against the side of Tali's helmet before pulling away again. Then she put her hand on Tali's shoulder and squeezed slightly.

Tali shifted slightly at her touch.

Shepard immediately let go of her arm, her eyes going wide as she leaned somewhat closer. She couldn't see through Tali's facemask, but that didn't stop her from leaning in as if she could.

"Tali?" she asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. "Tali, can you hear me?"

There was a long pause, followed by a pained sounding: "Ow."

Shepard didn't even try to keep the relief off her face. "Thank God," she said, closing her eyes for a moment and just _breathing_. She wasn't particular religious, but at that moment she was willing to give Ashley the benefit of the doubt for a few seconds. "How do you feel?"

There was another pause, followed by a groan as Tali pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Like I have a low grade fever," she said tiredly, her hands reaching down to probe at the patched hole in her suit. "What hit me?"

Shepard grimaced, her eyes darting over to the piece of shrapnel that she'd pulled out of Tali's suit. It was still wet, the liquid on it a darker red than Shepard was used to seeing but still clearly blood. Tali followed her gaze and went still.

"Oh," she said faintly.

"I was starting to get worried," Shepard said, trying to keep her voice as calm as she could. "It's been over an hour."

Tali glanced over at her. Shepard thought she saw a slight flash of Tali's eyes through her helmet, but she wasn't completely certain. It was mostly opaque, after all.

"Kaidan?" Tali asked cautiously.

Shepard did her best not to let any of the worry she was feeling show on her face. "I'm sure he made it back to the Mako," she said. "He's probably already got half the crew of the _Normandy_ trying to find a way to get us out of here."

There was a long pause as Tali stared at her, and not for the first time Shepard wished she could see her face. Then Tali sighed. "Yes," she said, and she almost managed to make it sound like she believed what she was saying. "I'm sure everything's fine."

Shepard reached down and took her by the hand, squeezing it slightly in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

Tali went still. She didn't relax, not really, but at least a little of the tension in her body seemed to fade.

"Shepard," Tali said quietly, something in her voice that Shepard couldn't quite interpret.

Shepard glanced over at her. "Yes?" she asked curiously.

For a long moment, she thought that Tali was going to drop it and not say anything else. Then Tali tilted her head a little, almost as if she was looking more closely at Shepard's face. Actually, now that Shepard was thinking about it, there was no 'almost' about it. It was easy to forget sometimes that just because she couldn't see Tali's face, it didn't mean that Tali couldn't see hers.

"I wouldn't mind another kiss," Tali said hesitantly, squeezing Shepard's hand a little more tightly. "If you'd like to, that is."

Shepard went still. Tali tilted her head. 

"Oh," Shepard said, her voice a bit more strangled than she'd intended.

Tali's grip on her hand tightened again. "Oh?" she repeated uncertainly.

Shepard took a deep breath, trying to calm her suddenly racing thoughts. "I, uh, would definitely like to," she said. "If you're sure."

There was a pause. "I'm sure," Tali said dryly, and Shepard could almost hear the implied "you bosh'tet" at the end of it.

Shepard felt her mouth start to turn upwards into a smile.

And, of course, that was when the rest of their team managed to break their way through the pile of rubble that was all that remained of the mine's entrance.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on Tumblr. (http://settiai.tumblr.com/)


End file.
